In Egyptian society, religion was central to everyday life. One of the roles of the pharaoh was as an intermediary between the gods and the people. The pharaoh thus deputised for the gods; his role was both as civil and religious administrator. He owned all of the land in Egypt, enacted laws, collected taxes, and defended Egypt from invaders as the commander-in-chief of the army.[4] Religiously, the pharaoh officiated over religious ceremonies and chose the sites of new temples. He was responsible for maintaining Maat, or balance and justice, and part of this included going to war when necessary to defend the country or attacking others when it was believed that this would contribute to Maat, such as to obtain resources.[5]

During the early days prior to the unity of the lower and upper kingdoms of ancient Egypt, a Deshret, the red crown, was a representation the Kingdom of lower Egypt; while the Hadjet, a white crown, was worn by the kings of the kingdom of upper Egypt. After the unification of both kingdoms into one united Egypt, the Pschent, the combination of both the red and white crowns was the official crown of kings. With time new headdresses were introduced during different dynasties like Khat, Nemes, Atef, Hemhem, and Kepresh. At times, it was depicted that a combination of these headdresses or crowns would be worn together.

The word pharaoh ultimately derives from the Egyptian compound pr-ˤ3 "great house," written with the two biliteral hieroglyphspr "house" and ˤ3 "column", here meaning "great" or "high". It was used only in larger phrases such as smr pr-ˤ3 "Courtier of the High House", with specific reference to the buildings of the court or palace.[6] From the twelfth dynasty onward, the word appears in a wish formula "Great House, may it live, prosper, and be in health", but again only with reference to the royal palace and not the person.

For instance, the first dated appearance of the title pharaoh being attached to a ruler's name occurs in Year 17 of Siamun on a fragment from the Karnak Priestly Annals. Here, an induction of an individual to the Amun priesthood is dated specifically to the reign of Pharaoh Siamun.[11] This new practice was continued under his successor Psusennes II and the twenty-second dynasty kings. For instance, the Large Dakhla stela is specifically dated to Year 5 of king "Pharaoh Shoshenk, beloved of Amun", whom all Egyptologists concur was Shoshenq I—the founder of the Twenty-second dynasty—including Alan Gardiner in his original 1933 publication of this stela.[12] Shoshenq I was the second successor of Siamun. Meanwhile, the old custom of referring to the sovereign simply as pr-ˤ3 continued in traditional Egyptian narratives.[citation needed]

By this time, the Late Egyptian word is reconstructed to have been pronounced *[par-ʕoʔ] whence Herodotus derived the name of one of the Egyptian kings, Φερων.[13] In the Old Testament of the Bible, the title also occurs as פרעה [par‘ōh];[14] from that, Septuagint φαραώ pharaō and then Late Latinpharaō, both -n stem nouns. The Qur'an likewise spells it فرعون fir'awn with "n" (here, always referring to the one evil king in the Exodus story, by contrast to the good king Aziz in sura 12's Joseph story). Interestingly, the Arabic combines the original pharyngeal ayin sound from Egyptian, along with the -n ending from Greek.

English at first spelt it "Pharao", but the King James Bible revived "Pharaoh" with "h" from the Hebrew. Meanwhile in Egypt itself, *[par-ʕoʔ] evolved into Sahidic Copticⲡⲣ̅ⲣⲟprro and then rro (by mistaking p- as the definite article prefix "the" from ancient Egyptian p3).[15]

Other notable epithets, nsw is translated to "king", ity for "monarch or sovereign", nb for "lord".[10][note 2] and heqa for "ruler".

Scepters and staves were a general sign of authority in ancient Egypt.[16] One of the earliest royal scepters was discovered in the tomb of Khasekhemwy in Abydos.[16] Kings were also known to carry a staff, and Pharaoh Anedjib is shown on stone vessels carrying a so-called mks-staff.[17] The scepter with the longest history seems to be the heqa-scepter, sometimes described as the shepherd's crook.[18] The earliest examples of this piece of regalia dates to pre-dynastic times. A scepter was found in a tomb at Abydos that dates to the late Naqada period.

Another scepter associated with the king is the was-scepter.[18] This is a long staff mounted with an animal head. The earliest known depictions of the was-scepter date to the first dynasty. The was-scepter is shown in the hands of both kings and deities.

The flail later was closely related to the heqa-scepter (the crook and flail), but in early representations the king was also depicted solely with the flail, as shown in a late pre-dynastic knife handle which is now in the Metropolitan museum, and on the Narmer Macehead.[19]

The red crown of Lower Egypt, the Deshret crown, dates back to pre-dynastic times. A red crown has been found on a pottery shard from Naqada, and later, king Narmer is shown wearing the red crown on both the Narmer macehead and the Narmer palette.

This is the combination of the Deshret and Hedjet crowns into a double crown, called the Pschent crown. It is first documented in the middle of the first dynasty. The earliest depiction may date to the reign of Djet, and is otherwise surely attested during the reign of Den.[21]

The khat headdress consists of a kind of "kerchief" whose end is tied similarly to a ponytail. The earliest depictions of the khat headdress comes from the reign of Den, but is not found again until the reign of Djoser.

The Nemes headdress dates from the time of Djoser. It is the most common type of crown that has been depicted throughout Pharaonic Egypt. Any other type of crown, apart from the Khat headdress, has been commonly depicted on top of the Nemes. The statue from his Serdab in Saqqara shows the king wearing the nemes headdress.[21]

The Hemhem crown is usually depicted on top of Nemes, Pschent, or Deshret crowns. It is an ornate triple Atef with corkscrew sheep horns and usually two uraei. The usage (depiction) of this crown begins during the Early 18th dynasty of Egypt.

Egyptologist Bob Brier has noted that despite their widespread depiction in royal portraits, no ancient Egyptian crown has ever been discovered. Tutankhamun's tomb, discovered largely intact, did contain such regalia as his crook and flail, but no crown was found, however, among the funerary equipment. Diadems have been discovered.[22]

It is presumed that crowns would have been believed to have magical properties. Brier's speculation is that crowns were religious or state items, so a dead pharaoh likely could not retain a crown as a personal possession. The crowns may have been passed along to the successor.[23]

During the early dynastic period kings had three titles. The Horus name is the oldest and dates to the late pre-dynastic period. The Nesu Bity name was added during the first dynasty. The Nebty name was first introduced toward the end of the first dynasty.[21] The Golden falcon (bik-nbw) name is not well understood. The prenomen and nomen were introduced later and are traditionally enclosed in a cartouche.[24] By the Middle Kingdom, the official titulary of the ruler consisted of five names; Horus, nebty, golden Horus, nomen, and prenomen[25] for some rulers, only one or two of them may be known.

The Nesu Bity name, also known as Prenomen, was one of the new developments from the reign of Den. The name would follow the glyphs for the "Sedge and the Bee". The title is usually translated as king of Upper and Lower Egypt. The nsw bity name may have been the birth name of the king. It was often the name by which kings were recorded in the later annals and king lists.[21]

The Horus name was adopted by the king, when taking the throne. The name was written within a square frame representing the palace, named a serekh. The earliest known example of a serekh dates to the reign of king Ka, before the first dynasty.[26] The Horus name of several early kings expresses a relationship with Horus. Aha refers to "Horus the fighter", Djer refers to "Horus the strong", etc. Later kings express ideals of kingship in their Horus names. Khasekhemwy refers to "Horus: the two powers are at peace", while Nebra refers to "Horus, Lord of the Sun".[21]

The earliest example of a nebty name comes from the reign of king Aha from the first dynasty. The title links the king with the goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt Nekhbet and Wadjet.[21][24] The title is preceded by the vulture (Nekhbet) and the cobra (Wadjet) standing on a basket (the neb sign).[21]

The Golden Horus or Golden Falcon name was preceded by a falcon on a gold or nbw sign. The title may have represented the divine status of the king. The Horus associated with gold may be referring to the idea that the bodies of the deities were made of gold and the pyramids and obelisks are representations of (golden) sun-rays. The gold sign may also be a reference to Nubt, the city of Set. This would suggest that the iconography represents Horus conquering Set.[21]

The prenomen and nomen were contained in a cartouche. The prenomen often followed the King of Upper and Lower Egypt (nsw bity) or Lord of the Two Lands (nebtawy) title. The prenomen often incorporated the name of Re. The nomen often followed the title Son of Re (sa-ra) or the title Lord of Appearances (neb-kha).[24]

^Redmount, Carol A. "Bitter Lives: Israel in and out of Egypt." p. 89–90. Michael D. Coogan, ed. The Oxford History of the Biblical World, Oxford University Press. 1998.

^Hieratic Papyrus from Kahun and Gurob, F. LL. Griffith, 38, 17. Although see also R. Mond and O. Myers (1940), Temples of Armant, pl. 93, 5, for an instance possibly dating from the reign of Thutmose III.